Austin



A. KELLEY.

(No Model.)

BUSTLE.

No. 287,029. Patented Oct. 23, 1883.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUSTIN KELLEY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES STUART, OF SAME PLACE.

BUSTLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 287,029, dated Catcher 23,1883. Application filed April 10, 1882. (no Ewan.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUSTIN KELLEY, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBustles, of which the following is a specification. I employ aseries of springs, arranged to form loops extending up and down, at proper distances apart, and graduated in size from the back around the sides toward the front. The

springs may be flat steel, corresponding to those often used for skirt-hoops, but preferably thinner, and capable of bending in the right plane with more facility. The springs are attached,

by sewing or otherwise, to a piece of thin fabric, which aids to maintain them at proper distances apart. One of the ends of each spring is attached to the waistband, or to a stout flexible strip corresponding thereto. The springs are curved outward at the extreme upper end.

The other end of the spring is equipped with a hook, and is adapted to be joined to the spring, not at the extreme top, but at various distances down on the outer line of the loop.

2 5 Each spring, therefore, describes a figure not much unlike the figure 6, the long side of the figure being outermost and the quick curve being on the inside toward the person. Several eyelets or other hook-engaging devices are provided at different heights up and down on the inside of the spring. The hooked end of the spring may be shifted from one of these points of attachment to another, inducing a corresponding change in the effective size of 3 5 the loop and in the prominence of the bustle.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification, and represent what I consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

Figure 1 is a view showing the bustle attached to a person. Fig. 2 shows at the lefthand side a view of the interior of the bustle when entirely open, and at the right-hand side a corresponding view with the springs engaged, so as to make the bustle more promi- 5 nent. Fig. 3 is avertical section. Fig. 4is a diagram illustrating the different degrees of prominence that can be given to the bustle, and Fig. 5 is a corresponding diagram, showing a modification in which some of the adend is brought up nearly to the same height waist.

other fastening of the waistband A.

D D are the springs of flat steel covered with braid. They are inserted in pockets 0, formed by stitching narrow tapes up and down on the inside of the fabric B. Iwill designate the ends as the.'upper and lower, it being sufficiently clear what is meant, although in a modification, to be described,the lower 0 as the upper. The upper end of each spring 7 D is curved outward, so that the dress resting thereon shall form a graceful curve at the All the springs in the series are united at their lower ends by a binding or stout strip of fabric, E, near which, but a little distance from the end, is firmly attached a two-armed fastener, which I will term a spring-hook,

G. By means of this hook the spring is attached at will to the corresponding eyelet or other hook-engaging device, of which there are two or more for each spring, (indicated by Iand J on the inner face of each spring,) or, rather, the corresponding face of the pocket 0. To engage the spring-hook G, the spring D is bent around upon itself, and caused to describe the figure 6, as indicated in Figs. 3, 4, and 6. When the spring-hooks G are engaged in the uppermost series of hook-engaging devices, I, the loop described is large and thebustle is prominent. \Vhen it is desired to make it less conspicuous, the hooks 'G are detached from their hook-engaging devices I, which can be done with little strength, and are engaged in the lowermost series of eyelets, J. Thus the prominence or magnitude of the. bustle may be varied at will. In either condition of adjustment the curves described by the two in which it engages.

the upper and outer portion of the springs are easy and graceful, and the terminal portion of the spring is held nearly parallel with the portion of the spring where it is engaged. There may be more than two series of hook-engagin g devices I J ,with corresponding increase in the facilities for varying the adjustment.

It will be understood that the two-armed fastener, which I term a spring-hook, engages by inserting an arm in each of the two eyelets. The first arm is long, and is thrust in to its full eXtent,in order to allow the shorter arm to engage in the proper eyelet above. IV hen I speak of engaging in a given engaging device I or J, I refer to the uppermost of The action is shown clearly in Fig. 6.

Modifications may be made in many of the details-as in the number and length of the springs, in the length and thickness of the material 13, the breadth of the belt, the extent of the outward curve at the upper end of the springs, and generallyin all the details. Plain hooks G, Fig. 3,"may serve with some success in place of the spring-hooks G, it being understood that the parts G and G and I and J are any suitable adj usting securing devices. The pockets 0 may be dispensed with. Other sufficient eyes or fastenings may be employed in place of the devices I J. The springs may be whalebone, steel, or various other materials. I prefer steel rolled so flat and thin as to present considerable width relatively to the thickness. Such springs are stiffer laterally, and the structure so made is not as liable to collapse or become deranged. Some of the benefits of the invention may be realized by fixing the spring-hooks or equivalent fastenings on the extreme lower end of the springs. Their engagement with the eyelets, under such circumstances, does not compel so great a curvature in the spring as the arrangement first de scribed. In such case one row of eyelets may be placed higher. Fig. 5 shows such modification. It may be preferred by some.

I claim as my invention 1. The adjustable bustle described, having fabric B and springs D, spring-hooks or analogous fastenings G, connected at or near the lower end, in combination with corresponding v fastenings, I J, arranged in two or more series, as and for the purposes herein specified.

2. In a bustle, the springs D, formed in vertical loops by means of fastenings G, engaging with fastening devices I J on the inner face of the spring, and having the lower ends of the springs extended beyond the fastenings, so as to hold the several springs in the form of a figure 6, as herein specified.

3. The bustle described, having springs D, fastenings G I J, fabric B, and waistband A, arranged, as shown, with the upper end of the springs adjacent to the waistband curved outward, so that each spring forms a curve inward at the lower end and outward at the upper end, as herein set forth.

at. In a bustle, the two-armed fastening G, attached to the spring D, in combinationwith a series of eyelets or analogous fastening devices, I J, and arranged to engage by its arms in two of the said eyelets, and to hold the terminal portion of the spring firmly in a position nearly parallel to a portion of the same spring at the desired higher level, as herein specified.

AUSTIN KELLEY.

Vitnesses:

B. E. D. STAFFORD, H. A. J OHNSTONE. 

